Too much salt brings risks

Published 2:10 am, Sunday, June 14, 2015

Recent guidelines by a federal advisory committee on dietary guidelines found that if Americans reduced the sodium in their diet, the annual savings would range from $36 million for Wyoming to $2.4 billion for California. The agency which has long urged this study is the Center for Science in the Public Interest.

The concerned researchers found that on the average Americans currently consume roughly 3,500 milligrams, or one and half a teaspoons, of sodium daily. This year, the guidelines call for the reduction of daily salt intake to 2,300 milligrams, or one teaspoon. The experts claim that excess sodium consumption increases blood pressure, a leading cause of cardiovascular disease which accounts for two-thirds of all strokes and half of all cases of heart disease.

Center for Science in the Public Interest publications claim that these widespread diseases cost enormous numbers in dollars and lives and that a daily reduction of sodium intake to 1,200 milligrams would reduce the medical savings for the United States from $10 billion to $24 billion annually. Adjusted for inflation and population growth, the costs achievable with the recommended sodium reduction would lower the total savings by $2.4 billion for California, $1.6 billion for Texas, $1.2 billion for Florida and $1.2 billion for New York. Eight other states would potentially save between $500 million and $1 billion a year in reduced health care costs, such as $787 million for Illinois and $509 million for Virginia.

These calculations are rough estimates, because sodium intake presumably depends on the state’s ethnic, gender, health and age distributions.

“The avoidable health care costs imposed by high-sodium diets in every single state are taking money away from other critical priorities,” said Michael F. Jacobson, Center for Science in the Public Interest executive director. “It is long past time for this nation to act on effective public health prevention measures that would save lives and, yes, save money, too.”

A decade ago, the Center for Science in the Public Interest formally petitioned the Food and Drug Administration to set limits on sodium levels. Yet the agency has yet to reduce sodium in the food supply in a gradual manner. FDA action would also support the public health investments being made by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in state-level sodium-reduction efforts. CDC has provided funding to the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials to provide technical assistance for sodium reduction initiatives to a number of states, including Maine, New York, Oregon, Washington, Arkansas, California, Delaware, Indiana, Massachusetts, Montana, North Carolina, Connecticut, Iowa and Missouri.

“Vermont is committed to reduce sodium consumption throughout the state, for everyone from children in school to seniors in subsidized housing,” said Vermont Department of Health Commissioner Harry Chen. “Through CDC funding we are providing resources to gradually change Vermonters’ taste preferences so they can enjoy delicious, lower-sodium foods. We encourage the FDA to do their part in facilitating a gradual reduction of sodium in processed foods.”

The National Association of Chronic Disease Directors has been heavily involved in another CDC-supported effort: the Million Hearts Initiative, aimed at preventing 1 million heart attacks and strokes in the U.S. by 2017.

“NACDD was one of the very first national partners to sign onto Million Hearts and has since remained at the forefront in conducting Million Hearts workshops and promoting the effort,” said John W. Robitscher, the group’s chief executive officer. “Sodium reduction is a perfect target for public health; and we are proud to have a long history of supporting efforts across every state and U.S. territory.”